The invention relates generally to cabinets and cabinet door assemblies, and more particularly to pocket door cabinets.
Cabinets are often used for storage of items. Cabinets allow for storage of items, generally out of view and often without the need for constructing built-in fixtures in houses, offices or other structures.
Often cabinets include a storage enclosure accessible by a door. The door may be a sliding door, which has an advantage of the door remaining within the footprint of the cabinet. A disadvantage of a sliding door, however, is that the door, or a part of the door, blocks easy access to a portion of the enclosure. The door may also be a hinged door, which has the advantage of providing more complete access to the enclosure and its contents, but has the disadvantage of extending beyond the footprint of the cabinet when the door is open.
One type of a cabinet which combines many of the advantages of a cabinet with a sliding door and a cabinet with a hinged door is a pocket door cabinet. In a pocket door cabinet the doors open in a hinged manner, allowing easy access to the contents of the enclosure. The door is also coupled to a slidable assembly such that the door, once open, may be moved into a hidden position within the cabinet itself. The door is usually slid into place against a side wall of the superstructure of the cabinet. In some instances, a false wall is provided within the cabinet so as to form a storage place, or pocket, for storage of the door.
A number of issues are raised in the design and construction of a pocket door cabinet. For example, a slidable assembly is generally mounted within the pocket door cabinet, with the door in some manner hinged to the slide assembly. Attempts by user to close the cabinet door prior to full extension of the door outside of the superstructure of the cabinet may result in damage to the door or the cabinet. As the door is generally made of wood, the damage is usually to the door as it hits the slidable structure, which is generally metal, prior to full extension away from the slidable structure in the cabinet. In addition, at times modification or replacement, or mere installation, of the slidable structure may be difficult due to the constrained volume of the pocket door area.